A method and an apparatus for providing a character input interface are provided. The method for providing a character input interface in a terminal having a touchscreen, includes simultaneously displaying a first keyboard on a first region and a second keyboard including second keyboard language selection keys on a second region by the touchscreen in a character inputting mode; and changing a language of the second keyboard to a language corresponding to a second touched keyboard language selection key touched while maintaining a language of the first keyboard when input touching the second keyboard language key is received.
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1. A method for providing a character input interface in an electronic device having a touchscreen, the method comprising:
displaying, on the touchscreen, a first keyboard interface including a single keyboard for inputting characters;
based on both the electronic device being in a landscape mode and a user touch input being received through the touchscreen, displaying a character input area along with a second keyboard interface on the touchscreen, wherein the second keyboard interface includes a first keyboard and a second keyboard, wherein the first keyboard and the second keyboard comprise a first type of character keys and a second type of character keys, respectively, and wherein the second keyboard further comprises a plurality of character-type selection keys for selecting a character type of the second keyboard comprising a language selection key for selecting a type of character keys for a spoken language;
while displaying the first type of character keys and the second type of character keys, replacing, based on receiving, through the touchscreen, a user touch input for one of the plurality of character-type selection keys of the second keyboard, the second type of character keys of the second keyboard with a third type of character keys while displaying the first type of character keys of the first keyboard, wherein the plurality of character-type selection keys are maintained after replacing the second type of character keys of the second keyboard with the third type of character keys; and
displaying a plurality of characters in the character input area,
wherein one character of the plurality of characters is inputted with a character key of the first type of character keys and another of the plurality of characters is inputted with a character key of the third type of character keys, and
wherein the first type of character keys is for a first spoken language and the second type of character keys is for a second spoken language which is different from the first spoken language.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor of an electronic device having a touchscreen, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
displaying, on the touchscreen, a first keyboard interface including a single keyboard for inputting characters;
based on both identifying that the electronic device is in a landscape mode and receiving a user touch input through the touchscreen, displaying together a character input area and a second keyboard interface on the touchscreen, wherein the second keyboard interface includes a first keyboard and a second keyboard, wherein the first keyboard and the second keyboard comprise a first type of character keys and a second type of character keys, respectively, and wherein the second keyboard further comprises a plurality of character-type selection keys for selecting a character type of the second keyboard comprising a language selection key for selecting a type of character keys for a spoken language;
based on receiving, through the touchscreen, a user touch input for one of the plurality of character-type selection keys of the second keyboard while displaying the first type of character keys and the second type of character keys, replacing the second type of character keys of the second keyboard with a third type of character keys while displaying the first type of character keys of the first keyboard, wherein the plurality of character-type selection keys are maintained after replacing the second type of character keys of the second keyboard with the third type of character keys; and
displaying a plurality of characters in the character input area, wherein one character of the plurality of characters is inputted with a character key of the first type of character keys and another of the plurality of characters is inputted with a character key of the third type of character keys,
wherein the first type of character keys is for a first spoken language and the second type of character keys is for a second spoken language which is different from the first spoken language.
8. An electronic device for providing a character input interface, the electronic device comprising:
a memory for storing instructions; and
a processor configured to execute the stored instructions to at least control to:
display, on a touchscreen of the electronic device, a first keyboard interface including a single keyboard for inputting characters,
based on both identifying that the electronic device is in a landscape mode and receiving a user touch input through the touchscreen, display together a character input area and a second keyboard interface on the touchscreen, wherein the second keyboard interface includes a first keyboard and a second keyboard, wherein the first keyboard and the second keyboard comprise a first type of character keys and a second type of character keys, respectively, and wherein the second keyboard farther comprises a plurality of character-type selection keys for selecting a character type of the second keyboard comprising a language selection key for selecting a type of character keys for a spoken language,
based on receiving, through the touchscreen, a user touch input for one of the plurality of character-type selection keys of the second keyboard while displaying the first type of character keys and the second type of character keys, replace the second type of character keys of the second keyboard with a third type of character keys while displaying the first type of character keys of the first keyboard, wherein the plurality of character-type selection keys are maintained after replacing the second type of character keys of the second keyboard with the third type of character keys, and
display a plurality of characters in the character input area, wherein one character of the plurality of characters is inputted with a character key of the first type of character keys and another of the plurality of characters is inputted with a character key of the third type of character keys,
wherein the first type of character keys is for a first spoken language and the second type of character keys is for a second spoken language which is different from the first spoken language.
2. The method of
3. The method of
4. The method of
displaying characters in the character input area,
wherein the characters are inputted with at least one character key of the first type of character keys and at least one character key of the second type of character keys.
5. The method of
6. The method of
7. The method of
9. The electronic device of
10. The electronic device of
11. The electronic device of
wherein the processor is configured to execute the stored instructions further to control to display characters in the character input area displayed on the touchscreen, and
wherein the characters are inputted with at least one character key of the first type of character keys and at least one character key of the second type of character keys.
12. The electronic device of
13. The electronic device of
14. The electronic device of
16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of
17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of
18. The non-transitory- computer-readable storage medium of
wherein the operations further comprise displaying characters in the character input area, and
wherein the characters are inputted with at least one character key of the first type of character keys and at least one character key of the second type of character keys.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of
20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of
21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of
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This application is a continuation application of prior application Ser. No. 13/436,065, filed on Mar. 30, 2012 and claimed the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) of a Korean patent application filed on Jun. 10, 2011 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office and assigned Serial number 10-2011-0055955, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and an apparatus for providing a character input interface, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for providing a convenient virtual keyboard in a touch terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the development of communication technology, an input device, and a display device, terminals having touch interfaces such as smartphones or tablet PCs have been widely used.
A touch interface for a terminal having a small screen such as a mobile phone or an MP3 player has been developed and provided. Consequently, the size of a screen is restricted and accordingly only one input mode (Korean language, English language, numerals, symbols, and the like) is provided to a user. However, recently, devices such as tablet PCs, which provide a relatively large screen, have become available. There is a need for an interface that enables a user to efficiently use a large screen.
Chunjiin and Naratgul keyboard layouts have been widely used as a keyboard interface in a small terminal such as a mobile phone. Now, a keyboard interface for a small terminal is applied to a terminal having a large screen. The size of each key and a distance between keys in a keyboard are relatively great to significantly increase a moving distance of a finger.
Further, a QWERTY keyboard interface is known as an intuitive and rapid interface. However, to implement a QWERTY keyboard on a touchscreen, a user should put fingers in the air unless the user contacts the fingers on the touchscreen for a short time when he is inputting characters. Because of this inconvenience, a user frequently uses a QWERTY keyboard interface using one finger instead of two. However, when a QWERTY keyboard interface is provided at the whole lower end of a large terminal such as a tablet PC, the distance one would have to move his finger becomes quite large.
Moreover, as the world becomes more globalized, one may frequently need to simultaneously input in a plurality of foreign languages, including, for example, the Korean language and other languages. However, it is very inconvenient for a user to change input languages every time.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides an interface that enables a user to conveniently keyboard-input in a terminal having a touchscreen on a large screen.
The present invention further provides an interface that enables a user to efficiently input text composed of various combined languages in a terminal having a touchscreen having a large screen.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method for providing a character input interface in a terminal having a touchscreen, includes simultaneously providing a first keyboard to a first region of a screen and a second keyboard including second keyboard language selection keys to a second region of the screen by the touchscreen in a character inputting mode; and changing a language of the second keyboard to a language corresponding to a second touched keyboard language selection key touched while maintaining a language of the first keyboard when input touching the second keyboard language key is received.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a terminal for providing a character input interface through a touchscreen including a touch sensor and a display unit, includes the touchscreen simultaneously providing a first keyboard to a first region and a second keyboard including second keyboard language selection keys to a second region by the touchscreen in a character inputting mode; and a controller controlling the touchscreen to change a language of the second keyboard to a language corresponding to a second touched keyboard language selection key touched while maintaining a language of the first keyboard when input touching the second keyboard language key is received by the touchscreen.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable recording medium is provided, on which a program for executing the method for providing a character input interface in a terminal having a touchscreen is recorded, including simultaneously providing a first keyboard to a first region of a screen and a second keyboard, including second keyboard language selection keys, to a second region of the screen by the touchscreen in a character inputting mode; and changing a language of the second keyboard to a language corresponding to a second touched keyboard language selection key touched while maintaining a language of the first keyboard when an input is received by touching the second keyboard language key.
The objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
A method and an apparatus for providing an interface for inputting a character according to embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings in detail. The same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. Detailed descriptions of well-known functions and structures incorporated herein may be omitted to avoid obscuring the subject matter of the present invention.
Hereinafter, the present invention is described with reference to drawings for explaining a method and an apparatus for providing a character input interface according to embodiments of the present invention.
As used herein, the term “language of keyboard” or “language of keyboard layout” is not limited to communicative means such as the Korean language, the English language, the Japanese language used in a certain countries. “Numerals, symbols, and functions” with respect to a keyboard interface for certain character input or control such as numerals, symbols, and function keys are regarded as a language of a corresponding key interface. A language of a keyboard represents a representative character or control command capable of being input through a corresponding keyboard. When a language of a keyboard is numerals, the keyboard may include a part of arithmetic symbols such as “+”, “−”, “/”, and “*” or keys for specific characters as well as numeral keys of 0-9. When a language of a keyboard is Korean, the keyboard may include a part of keys of punctuation symbols such as “.” and “,” as well as Korean letters. That is, the language of the keyboard becomes information capable of identifying the arrangement of keys of a corresponding keyboard.
Referring to
The RF communication unit 110 performs the transmitting and receiving functions of corresponding data for RF communication of the terminal 100. The RF communication unit 110 includes a transmitter (not shown) for up-converting a frequency of a transmitted signal and amplifying the signal, a receiver (not shown) for low-noise-amplifying a received signal and down-converting the signal. Further, the RF communication unit 110 receives data through an RF channel and outputs the received data to the controller 160. The RF communication unit 110 transmits data output from the controller 160 through the RF channel.
The audio processor 120 may be configured by a COder-DECoder (CODEC). The CODEC may include a data CODEC processing packet data and an audio CODE processing an audio signal. The audio processor 120 converts a digital audio signal into an analog audio signal using the audio CODEC, and plays the analog audio signal using a speaker SPK. The audio processor 120 converts an analog audio signal input from a microphone MIC into a digital audio signal using the audio CODEC.
The touchscreen 130 includes a touch sensor 131 and a display unit 132. The touch sensor 131 detects touch input of a user. The touch sensor may be configured by a touch sensor such as a capacitive type, a resistive overlay type, an infrared beam type or a pressure sensor. Aside from the foregoing sensors, various types of sensor device capable of sensing contact or pressure of an object may be configured as the touch sensor 131 of the present invention. The touch sensor 131 detects touch input of a user, generates and transmits a sensing signal to the controller 160. The sensing signal contains coordinate data that a user inputs a touch. When the user inputs a touch position moving operation, the touch sensor 141 generates and transmits a sensing signal including coordinate data of a touch position moving path to the controller 160.
Specifically, the touch sensor 131 may detect user input for extending and displaying an object item group. The user input may include a touch (including multi-touch) or drag.
The display unit 132 may be a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED), or an Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED). The display unit 132 displays menus of the terminal 100, input data, function setting information, and various other information to a user. The display unit 132 executes a function outputting a boot screen, an idle screen, a menu screen, a call screen, and other application screens of the terminal 100.
The touchscreen 130 of the present invention simultaneously provides a first keyboard and a second keyboard under the control of the controller 160. Here, the first keyboard and the second keyboard may display different languages. Further, if the touchscreen 130 detects language selection input of the second keyboard, only a language of the second keyboard may change in a maintained state of the language of the first keyboard. For example, the first keyboard may show a main language (for example, the Korean language) input keyboard. The second keyboard may be an assistant language (for example, numerals, functions, symbols, Greek language, Chinese language, and the like) input keyboard. The second keyboard may refer to an “assistant keyboard” or a “secondary keyboard” in that it is a keyboard for inputting an assistant language. The second keyboard may refer to “quick keyboard” in that it helps rapid character input. However, the role sharing of the first keyboard and the second keyboard may be substituted for each other or be suitably combined.
A user may input characters using a keyboard provided through the touchscreen 130. Operations of the first keyboard and the second keyboard may, for example, be performed through drag input. An operation of the touchscreen 130 is described with reference to
The key input 140 receives a key operation of a user for controlling the terminal 100, and generates and transfers an input signal. The key input unit 140 may be configured by a keypad including numeral keys and direction keys, or a predetermined function key provided at one side of the terminal 100. In an embodiment of the present invention, when all operations of the terminal 100 can be performed by only the touchscreen 130, the key input unit 140 may be omitted.
The memory 150 stores programs and data necessary for an operation of the terminal 100. The memory 160 may be divided into a program area and a data area. The program area stores a program controlling an overall operation of the terminal 100, an Operating System (OS) for booting the terminal 100, an application program necessary for playback of multimedia contents, or other option functions of the mobile terminal such as a camera function, a sound playing function, or an image or moving image playing function. The data area stores data created according to use of the terminal 100, for example, images, moving images, phone-books, and audio data.
The controller 160 controls an overall operation of respective structural elements of the terminal 100. In particular, the controller 160 controls the terminal 100 to simultaneously provide a first keyboard and a second keyboard through the touchscreen 130. An operation of the controller 160 will be illustrated with reference to
A controller 160 determines whether conditions for providing plural keyboards simultaneously are satisfied (210). The conditions for providing plural keyboards simultaneously may change according to setting of the terminal 100. For example, when a need of provision of a keyboard is detected, that is, if a user selects conditions for providing plural keyboards simultaneously, the controller 160 may determine that the conditions for providing plural keyboards simultaneously are unconditionally satisfied. In another embodiment, when a direction of the terminal 100 is a landscape mode and a need of provision of a keyboard is detected, the controller 160 determines that the conditions for providing plural keyboards simultaneously are satisfied. When the need of provision of the keyboard is detected, a key of one language is simply provided in a conventional way. However, when a user touches a button requesting provision of plural language keyboards, the controller 160 determines that the conditions for providing plural keyboards simultaneously are satisfied. Further, when the need of provision of a keyboard is detected, only English QWERTY keyboard is simply provided. Next, if a Korean/English selection key is touched, the controller 160 determines that the conditions for providing plural keyboards simultaneously are satisfied. The conditions for providing plural keyboards simultaneously are illustrated by way of example, which can be changed by a user, a hardware producer, or a software developer.
When the conditions for providing plural keyboards simultaneously are not satisfied, the process proceeds to step 215. The touchscreen 130 provides one keyboard, for example, a QWERTY keyboard, or no keyboard interfaces in step 215. The process then returns to step 210 and repeats step 210 and step 215 until the simultaneous providing conditions of the keyboards are satisfied.
When the conditions for providing plural keyboards simultaneously are satisfied, the touchscreen 130 simultaneously provides a first keyboard and a second keyboard in step 220.
Referring to
For example, if the user a numeral selection key 322a, the language of the second keyboard 320 becomes numerals. The screen of
In another embodiment, if a user touches an English selection key 322b, the language of the second keyboard 320 becomes the English language as illustrated in
In an embodiment of
As an example of
A second keyboard 420 is provided to a left side in the keyboard interface 340. The second keyboard 420 includes second keyboard language selection keys 422. The second keyboard language selection keys 422 include the Chinese language selection key 422a, the Greek language selection key 422b, the Russian language selection key 422c, and the French language selection key 422d.
In an embodiment of
Referring back to
The controller 160 determines whether language selection input for a first keyboard 330 is detected through the touchscreen 130 in step 240. The language selection input for the first keyboard 330 may be touch input of a first keyboard language selection key 332. When the language selection input for the first keyboard 330 is detected, the controller 160 changes a language of the first keyboard 330 to a selected language while maintaining a language of second keyboard 320 or 420 in step 245. When the language selection input for the first keyboard 330 is not detected, the process returns to step 210 and repeats steps 210 to 240 until conditions for providing plural keyboards simultaneously are satisfied.
For example, when a user drags the boundary 510 to the left end of the first keyboard 330 as illustrated in
In an embodiment shown on
As shown in
For example, as shown in
Because right-handers are more than left-handers, a first keyboard 300 inputting a main language is located at a right side. However, a left-handed user may wish to locate the first keyboard 330 at a left side. Further, when a right-handed user inputs a language of the second keyboard 320 temporarily and chiefly, the user may wish to locate the second keyboard 320 at a right side.
Instead of the foregoing drag input, through another touch input, keypad input, or setting of a terminal, positions of the first keyboard 330 and the second keyboard 320 may be switched with each other.
In a modified embodiment, when recognizing drag input by greater than a preset distance in a preset direction, the touchscreen 130 may switch the positions of the first key 330 and the second keys 320 with each other. For example, when the touchscreen 130 receives drag input having the length greater than 5 centimeters (cm) and orienting from a right side to a left side, it may recognize the drag input as keyboard position change input requesting positions of the first keyboard 330 and the second keyboard 320 to be switch with each other. It may be changed according to the setting of a software provider, a hardware producer, or a user if input of a direction or a length is recognized as position change input of a keyboard.
A direction of drag input is an approximate input direction. Substantially, when a complete drag input trajectory has a constant orientation, a direction corresponding to the orientation may be a direction of the drag input. That is, when coordinate movement to a vertical direction is 3 millimeters (mm) and coordinate movement to a horizontal direction is 5 cm in drag input, the coordinate movement to a vertical direction may be disregarded. Thus, a direction of the drag input is a left direction.
Meanwhile, the first keyboard and the second keyboard may be shown at an upper end, a left side, or a right side of the screen 310 according to setting. In the same manner, the user may switch the positions of the first keyboard 330 and the second keyboard 320 with each other.
The user may conveniently switch the positions of the keyboards according to an embodiment of
A user may drag a symbol selection key 332a to a position of a French language selection key 422d on a screen of
In an embodiment of
Next, if a user touches an “Northeast Asia” selection key 422a, a pop-up interface 810 is provided as illustrated in
This embodiment illustrates that a language selection key 332 of the first keyboard 330 is dragged as a language selection key 422 of the second keyboard 420. In another embodiment, when one of language selection keys 332 of the first keyboard 330 is dragged to a position of another language selection key or a language selection keys 422 of the second keyboard 420 is dragged to a position of another language selection keys 442, the keyboard interface may be provides as described above. Further, when one of the language selection eyes of the second keyboard 200 is dragged to a position of one of the first keyboard 330, the same operation is performed.
In an embodiment of
In an embodiment illustrated in
For example, if a user drags a Korean language selection key 332b to a position of a Chinese selection key 422a by a drag input, language select keys may be switched with each other in the embodiment of
Furthermore, respective initial touch times may set with respect to keyboard position change input for the embodiment of
It will be appreciated that respective blocks of processing flowchart of
Further, each block may indicate a part of a module, a segment, or a code including at least one executable instruction for executing specific logical function(s). It should be recognized that several execution examples may generate functions described in blocks out of an order. For example, two continuously shown blocks may be simultaneously performed, and the blocks may be performed in a converse order according to corresponding functions.
As used in this embodiment, the term “unit” (such as key input unit 140 of
Although embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail hereinabove, it should be clearly understood that many variations and modifications of the basic inventive concepts herein taught which may appear to those skilled in the present art will still fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
Lee, Ji Hoon, Park, Se Hwan, Kim, Ji Hoon, Park, Sung Wook
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